HALLOWEEN 2009

Halloween was really fun this year. We started with carving pumkins, then moved on to making pizza before dressing and going out.

Hannah had great fun with her friends.

Hannah dressed as the Great Pumkin

Kendrey, Brooklyn, Hannah, Emily and Janna all went tick-or treating throughout the neighborhood and gathered enough candy to last til Christmas. At eight o'clock Delanie joined us and I drove the girls over to house that gives away the giant candy bars! The night ended at Janna's home trading candy.

Lizzy dressed as a doll and really enjoyed her friends too. She took off and did whatever Jr. High girls do.

We think Chris had great fun but we never saw him. Once again he hung out with the youth at the bishop's home watching scary movies and drinking hot chocolate.

I Have Incredible Sisters

I have seven incredible sisters that are amoung my greatest treasures in life. Yet so often as I hurry through my busy life, I forget how amazing they are. I think wonderful things about these ordinary girls who grew up together. We had nothing more than the mundane life of pulling endless rows of weeds and boring household jobs after school, mixed with baby diapers and tending one other. We went to school and church with each other, grew up and left for college and lives of our own and somehow turned out to have implausible talents and impeccable character.

I don't think I comprehended as a innocent young child how lining up for the sister's photo would have such deep meaning for me in my later years. I look at our sweet faces below and realized that we were meant to be next to each other.

Conference Thoughts and Notes

Love
Love your wayward children and the tentacles of God's love will eventually reach out and touch them
Past
Reviewing the lessons of the past help us face the future
Virtue
Virtuous trait should not be forgotten
Patience
Patience and perseverance are part of our progression
Service
What did you do for someone today?
Book of Mormon
"Are the words of Christ and they teach men to do good"
Charity
We are stewards, we are accountable--be diligent
Spiritual Hearts
Do not be casual about the seemingly simple things of the gospel
Repentance
Easiness and willingness to hear the word of God comes from repentance and keeping the commandments

First Day of School

School has started here at our home. The girls are excited to be back with all their friends, however, Chris is not too excited about tackling Algebra II and Physics this year.

Christopher - High School -10th grade

Elizabeth - Jr. High - 8th grade

Hannah - Elementary - 5th grade

Washington Lake Campout

Washington Lake camp was the best camp out of the year, unfortunately it does signify that summer is now winding down and it is time to put away the camp gear and start preparing for school. Highlights of this trip for me were:

1. The Sunday buffet -- this included roasted turkey, spiral ham, grilled pork loins, 2 kinds of soup, green been casserole, yummy yummy dutch oven potatoes, a vegetable medley that was to die for, several green salads, corn on the cob, fresh baked dutch oven rolls and the list goes on. Oh I didn't mention the dessert, there was plenty of that too, fried donuts, homemade cherry pie, chocolate goo brownies and a variety of dutch oven cobblers.

2. The copper pipe fire -- while others have seen this display before from Justin Allred's handmade copper pipes and rubber hose, I had not. The display was blast of brilliant colorful fire spiking from the fire pit. Amazing!

3. The trip to Provo falls -- can't describe how fun it is to see the kids and youth enjoying themselves in the water. It reminded me of my childhood camping trips playing in the water with cousins and sisters. I remember one camping trip on a river where my mother decided to ride the camping mattress down the small rapids, it popped halfway down. She got scraped on the rocks but it was rather funny.

4. Sunday school -- we don't usually camp on Sundays but it worked out that way this time because all the Fridays and Saturdays for the group sites had already been reserved before we made our reservations in January. Sunday turned out to be a special time for me as I read scriptures with Chris and Lizzy in the tent (Hannah ventured down to church in Kamas with the Hurst family). Nothing new, we read all the time, but this time Lizzy really participated and even though she was only required to read 3 verses each time the book was passed she read pages at a time. I was touched to hear her read and in my heart was praying that it was blessing her testimony. Lori prepared pioneer bingo for all of us in camp to play complete with prizes and buffalo chips for treats. We also shared a couple pioneer stories.

Here are several pictures of the friends I dearly love. It is wonderful to be surrounded by so many truly amazing people. I know I would never venture out on these camp outs by myself, in fact I wouldn't survive with out their matches, tongs, dishwater, grills and all the other things that didn't make it into my camp supplies.

Chris hang out with Kevin, the teens and the younger boys too. My favorite time with him was watching him, Kevin, Jeffery, McKay and Lizzy try to balance on these styrofoam filled pipes at the other end of the lake. They tried over and over again to cross the pipes only to be flip into the water when they lost their balance. We had some good laughs. It was much harder than it looks so they said.

Lizzy didn't have any one her age at camp and found it hard to hang out with the girls that were older than her, but she made do and did a lot of fun things for the younger children and was often found holding the babies. I admire her kindness for the little children.

Hannah loves to camp and really really enjoyed the non-stop interaction with her best friend. She didn't even sleep in the tent with us but opted to sleep in the back of a suburban with Janna.

Froggy Goes Home

His name is "Squishy no-name", a western tree frog that has been living in our home for a year now. Hannah captured Squishy no-name last year during the Washington lake campout and learned just how hard it was to tend to a frog.

Today, August 2, 2009, he is being released back into the wild a little bigger and quite healthly.
Frog catching is a highlight of our annual Washington lake trip. And Hannah succefully caught five more frogs but not once did she ask if she could keep them. She was very happy to let them go after she enjoyed the capture.

Hannah's hair cut

Hannah and Janna (Hannah's best friend) started the summer with long hair and wore it in french braids during our first camp out in June. Hannah had wanted to cut her hair about the time school was winding up in May but I was against it feeling that summer would be much easier in braids and pony tails. After some debate I consented to let her cut her hair before school started in the fall.

However, before June even ended, Janna cut her beautiful long red hair and donated it to "Locks of Love". Hannah begged me all day to take her to get her hair cut. She wanted it just like Janna's. It just couldn't be done. By evening, determined that her hair should be cut this very day, she asked Janna to come over and be a model for me so that I could attempt cutting her hair. I couldn't believe that she wanted it so bad that she would trust me to take the scissors to her gorgeous satin hair. I have trimmed the girls hair before and I am fairly good at cutting the boys hair but I have never attempted a cute little bob with a wedge in the back.

We got started about 9:30 p.m. I kept running my fingers through Janna's hair trying to determine what angles I should be cutting in Hannah's hair and then finally put the scissors to work. When we were all done at 11 p.m. Hannah was very happy and even commented that it turned out better than she thought I could do!

Summer Camping

SUMMER is the time to go camping.

So far this summer we have gone camping at Manti Community (June 18-20) and Granite Flats(June 28) campgrounds. They were both fun filled days with friends and family. It has become a tradition to go with several families from the nieghborhood like the Hurst, the Farrers, the Daniels, the Williams, the Crimans, the Wrights and this year the Stewards joined in too.

What I like best about camping is the laying around and doing nothing

or cooking and eating great food (this year I've tried my hand at dutch oven lasagna & dutch oven pork and pototoes).

or playing games
or if you were lucky enough, riding 4 wheelers

and the best part of camping is goofing around and hanging out with great friends.

Even if that means you have to do it in the rain sometimes!

Birthday for Me and You and You

Well it just wouldn't be June if we didn't mention all the BIRTHDAY fun that we had!

I celebrated my BIRTHDAY with a this amazing cake made by Denell. She surprised me and brought it to my work. The children made me breakfast and a fabulous dinner and we had a great time together.

We celebrated Chris's (May 31) and Lizzy's (June 3) BIRTHDAY several days in a row.

But the main party was a swim party followed by indivual strawberry shortcakes and presents.

We don't want to forget Kiyomi's (June 12) BIRTHDAY, although we didn't get to celebrate it here since she is in D.C. this summer.

Annual Trip to the Gardens

One of my favorite things to do each year is visit Thanksgiving Point Gardens with Molly. This has become a tradition now. We just walk through the paths of the garden visiting with each other and pointing out intriguing flowers. I always come away with a new idea for my own flower beds. Below are a few of our favorite for this year.

Rescue Nursery at our House

The other day, I rescued 4 Killdeer eggs. A nesting couple had laid their eggs just 4 inches from my office parking lot curb. We took great care not to park in their spot and to watch out for them. But last Monday, to our surprise, hired help came in to replace the sprinkles and moved the nest out of their way. The poor nesting couple screamed all morning and were unable to find there nest just a few hundred yards away. By early afternoon they gave up and we didn't see them again. I brought the eggs home in hopes to incubate them--a pretty impossible task but it was better than letting them die in the cold night air.

What I didn't realize is that this would start a rescue mission. First Hannah became very concern over a baby robin she found out of the nest. Her friend and her tried to put the baby back into the nest but were unsuccessful. By nightfall, her worried little heart brought her back to the baby robin to find that it was still stranded. She begged to save it from the neighborhood cats and I gave in.

Next, Lizzy recued a baby sparrow from her dad's home. Apparently the wind broke the branch where the nest had rested and only one of four baby sparrows survived.



We have set up warm homes for the birds and at first they were very difficult to feed, but now they open their mouths when we offer food. It is very time consuming as they need to be fed several time a day. But, Lizzy and Hannah have been very good at making the food and getting them fed. I just don't know what I will do if the four Killdeer eggs hatch!

End of Violin

After playing the violin for 3 years, Chris decides to put it away. He is pictured here at his last orchestra concert at Pleasant Grove Jr High.

Just a bunch of crazy orchestra friends having fun...

Ben turns 20

We celebrated Ben's birthday last Sunday, after he came back from Las Vegas. It was fun to have my sister Denell and her family and my brother Daniel and his family over for a family get together. There was lots of food and family talk.
Ben you have grown so much over the last year. I love you so much and wish you the best in the pursuit of your dreams for the next few years to come.

BEN, Benevolent, Bold, Brilliant, Blessed, Buddy, Brother, BrAvE.

Dont you just love his birthday hat from his sincere sister Kiyomi!

Manila Chior

Hannah joined the choir this year and they just ended the year out with a choir preformance at Manilla Elementary. She learned a lot of fun songs, like "Heros" and "Hope the Teacher Doesn't Pick Me". The choir was her favorite after school activity because she got to sing with her best friends, Emily (above),
Janna (top center) and Brooklyn (right).

Bipolar Weather

Chris says our weather is Bipolar. After waking up to 8 inches of snow on April 16th, Im begining to believe him. What is Bipolar weather, you ask...

Bipolar weather, also known as sun-snow illness, is a climate disorder that causes unusual shifts in the weather's mood, energy, and ability to function. Different from the normal ups and downs that a season goes through, the symptoms of bipolar weather are severe. They can result in damaged trees, poor job or school performance, and even bewilderment. But there is good news: bipolar weather can't last forever.














Our ornamental plum tree had just reached full bloom in the gorgeous sunny spring weather we were having when the weather conditions swung to the cold side. The pink blossoms draped in the white glistening snow were very beautiful. You can almost see them in the pictures.














The weight of the snow has damaged several limbs in the tree and I will have to take a saw to it as soon as I find a few spare moments.

As a side note, today was recorded as the warmest day of the year. Another swing in the weather's mood!